Quito -
Tamara Salazar does not believe that the new coronavirus pandemic will take her off the path to the Tokyo Olympics, and with few tools she has sought to maintain her preparation without regretting too much that the qualification tests in March and April had been canceled.
Her silver and bronze medals at the 2018 and 2019 world weightlifting championships, respectively, awaken great hopes for Ecuador and for the young 22-year-old weightlifter.
Before May, she planned to participate in the Cali Open and the Pan American Championship in the Dominican Republic, tournaments necessary to qualify for the Olympic Games, but they were canceled due to the expansion of the pandemic.
However, for Salazar this is nothing more than a postponement of her dreams and she has continued training at her home in the Pusir Grande community (Carchi), where she has "a small platform and a bar to do the workouts" to stay in shape, she told EFE.
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Two weeks ago, she was able to return to her usual practices in a community gym, after changing to the yellow color in the epidemiological traffic light dictated by the authorities, which will allow the medalist to maintain her physical condition, with which she was able to reach the fourth position in the world ranking of weightlifting in the 87-kilogram category.
"I'm not at 100%, because at the beginning of the pandemic we didn't have thorough planning, I just did workouts to stay in shape, but now we are intensifying the exercises, the dream continues, I haven't stopped," she said.
In fact, she will participate on July 18 and 19 in the Online Pan American Cup, organized by the Pan American Weightlifting Federation and the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), with the aim of bringing together the best weightlifters in America and the world who will compete from their homes, gyms, terraces, or spaces where it is allowed to practice the discipline.
"In this competition, I will do the snatch and clean and jerk from my house. I hope to represent the country in the best way," Salazar, who has won over 100 medals throughout her career, advanced.
A decade dedicated to sports
This Ecuadorian, born in the Chota Valley, began her passion for sports at the age of 12, initially in athletics and later in weightlifting thanks to a sister who also practiced the discipline, a decade fighting to achieve the Olympic dream.
One of her motivations to enter the world of weightlifting was "to show that women are strong and can do any activity," said Salazar, recalling how in her beginnings there were people who "said that this sport was only for men."
It was also not easy to reach high-performance competitions such as the Pan American Games in Lima 2019 or the world championships in 2018 and 2019, where she was runner-up for two consecutive years.
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"But I believe that every elite athlete has to sacrifice to achieve their goals, it is difficult but not impossible," she clarifies.
The Tokyo Olympics had to be postponed due to the pandemic and are scheduled to start on July 23, 2021, as announced by the International Olympic Committee.
However, there is concern about the statements of Taro Yamamoto, candidate for Mayor of Tokyo, who said that if elected on July 5, there will be no Olympic event in the Japanese capital. (D)